Who needs guard dogs when you have wolves, right? That’s probably what Kazakh villagers in the Almaty region thought when they decided to replace their canines with the fierce forest-dwelling beasts. According to local news reports, taming wolves is now the latest trend and a sort of hobby among rural Kazakhs.

“You can buy a wolf cub for just $500, they say, and hunters are adamant that if treated well, the wild animal can be tamed,” the KTK television channel reported. Nurseit Zhylkyshybay, a farmer from the south-eastern Almaty region, told reporters that he purchased a wolf cub from hunters three years ago, and the animal is now perfectly domesticated.

Kurtka, Nurseit’s pet wolf, lives in the family’s yard and takes long walks through the village with his master. “He’s never muzzled,” Nurseit insisted. “I rarely put him on a chain and do take him for regular walks around the village. Our family and neighbors aren’t scared of him at all. If the wolf is well fed and cared for, he won’t attack you, although he does eat a lot more than a dog. Feed him at least three times a day.”

But wolf expert Almas Zhaparov said that the animals are ‘far too dangerous’ to keep at home. “A wolf is like a ticking bomb, it can go off at any moment,” he warned. “If nothing is done, the fashion could spread to the wealthy Kazakhs, who might try to keep wolves in the grounds of their houses, with possibly deadly consequences.” Social media users also expressed apprehension over the trend, accusing the government for failing to curtail the practice.

Nevertheless, the wolves don’t seem to be posing an immediate threat. If visuals from news reports are anything to go by, the beasts look pretty happy with their new lifestyle, and appear quite fond of their new masters, not unlike dogs.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of domesticated wolves former Soviet Union countries. A few months ago, we wrote about a Belarusian family that has managed to domesticate a pack of wild wolves and are now raising them as pets.

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